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Nostalgic day at railway centre steams along

VISITORS enjoyed a nostalgic steam day at Didcot Railway Centre on Wednesday.

Visitors were given rides on the trains and shown the history of how train travel has developed.

Josh Granger went along with his grandfather, Vic Trace, 66, from Andover.

The nine-year-old said: “It was a really good day and there was lots of things to do.

“My favourite train was King Edward II, because he looks really cool.

“He was also really shiny and didn’t look old as some of the other trains, even though he was.”

Driver Grahame Dryden

The “Kings” were once the most powerful passenger locomotives in the country.

King Edward II was built at Swindon in 1930 and worked mostly in Devon and Plymouth until 1962.

But before its scheduled breaking up it was towed across a bridge, for weight testing. That resulted in it being left in a yard in Barry, Wales, with its twin King Edward I. It was saved in 1974 and brought to Didcot in 1990.

Guard Ann Middleton

It was then restored by the Great Western Society in a project spanning 20 years and moved again for the first time afterwards in January 2011.

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